Wally announces new 'floating island' gigayacht: the WallyIsland

Little more than a decade after beginning in business, Monaco-based Wally Yachts continues to develop innovative concepts and minimalist luxury at a rate exceeding any other marine design house on the planet. The company's latest is the WallyIsland - a 99 meter (325 feet) "gigayacht" that dwarfs the vast majority of luxury megayachts and reconceives the yacht as a floating personal island, a mobile address that can be used as a home, an entertaining space or even a moving exhibition or show space.

In decades gone by, a 180-foot personal superyacht was enough to establish yourself as a seriously wealthy owner - but over the last ten years, in the spirit of excess, the megayacht emerged, at over 220 feet long. And when the ostentatious mega-rich start competing, enormous isn't nearly big enough. Over the last ten years, several yachts have been built over the 320-foot mark.

WallyIsland isn't the first of this new breed of luxury gigayachts - nor is it the largest. Paul Allen's Octopus, for example is a 410-foot monster built by Lürssen, and the Sheikh of Dubai (where else?) currently owns the world's largest luxury motoryacht at a staggering 525 feet long. A 405-footer by Frank Mulder was even auctioned off recently on eBay. WallyIsland, though, does have some unique features.

WallyIsland looks more like a tanker than its gigayacht brethren, due to the huge 1000m2 main deck area and the fact that is has only three upper-level decks rather than the multilevel arrangements typical on others. It's designed this way to increase open entertaining space and allow large garden spaces, and this sort of design also keeps the cost of the yacht "competitive," although we'd shudder to imagine what "competitive" means in this kind of endeavour. Wally claims it's roughly in line with what you'd pay for a traditional design 200-footer.

The WallyIsland's main deck can include a large, deep swimming pool, garden spaces, tennis or mini soccer grounds, as well as the requisite helipads. It includes sleeping quarters for up to 40 crew and 24 guests as well as the extravagant owner's suites. It holds around three-quarters of a million litres of fuel, so you'd probably want to fill it up before the public holiday petrol price jump, and the aft deck holds two 45-foot WallyPower tender yachts, as well as space for several other yachts and watertoys on board.

The interiors feature a main saloon, living/dining room; guest accommodation, library, cinema, spa, wellness and fitness area; service and crew area; and the steering/navigation area.

The main saloon is in the forward centre of the ship, at the Service & Salon deck (Lower Deck), with double level height: lower level of 260 m2 - 2,799 ft2; upper level with balcony looking on the lower one, of 150 m2 - 1,615 ft2

The main deck (External Deck) has a huge surface partially teak covered, of nearly 1,000 m2 - 10,764 ft2
The AFT deck (AFT Cockpit) has a surface of 300 m2 - 3,229 ft2
On the FWD end of the Main deck there is a swimming pool of 10.50 m - 34' 5" x 8.00 m - 26' 3"

In the superstructure, AFT in the higher level (Bridge/steering Deck), one sun deck area of 90 m2 - 969 ft2 is fitted.

In total there are 5 accommodation decks, plus a lower deck for the machinery, tanks and technical staff.
The access to the different decks is through the AFT lifts (one for guest and one for crew service), and through the AFT staircases.

Loz has been one of Gizmag's most versatile contributors since 2007. Joining the team as a motorcycle specialist, he has since covered everything from medical and military technology to aeronautics, music gear and historical artefacts. Since 2010 he's branched out into photography, video and audio production, and he remains the only Gizmag contributor willing to put his name to a sex toy review. A singer by night, he's often on the road with his a cappella band Suade.